AUTHOR: Julissa Ledesma
Today, I’d like to share a little about my holistic journey to healing.
Let’s remember that we are wonderfully created by God with three parts consisting of body, soul and spirit. Each part of our being works Inter-dependently, and there is never a disconnect between any of these parts even if we are not aware of it. This means that one aspect of our life impacts our emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. From my perspective, a Royal Life, involves understanding this mind- body-spirit connection and allowing God to bring wholeness to every area of my life.
For the past few years, I have been struggling with a few medical issues, for which I sought many conventional doctors in trying to seek help. Unfortunately, they only focused on treating each symptom and condition independently, and their solutions involved mostly pharmaceuticals. I thank God for medical doctors, but I have found that taking a holistic approach has been more beneficial for me at attacking root causes.
In my journey with conventional doctors, my symptoms progressively worsened. Shortly afterward, I realized how these physical issues started affecting my emotional and spiritual life. My energy, mood, and focus were all impacted along with my motivation and desire to seek God. After countless medical visits and little results, I started researching. I came across holistic approaches to health that would help me find the underlying causes of my medical issues.
As I kept learning more about the many factors that can affect our health, the more I realized that the college program I attended, never introduced me to topics such as the bi-directional gut-mind connection and the importance of a healthy microbiome, or the fact that food sensitivities and even bugs in our system can influence our mood.
Also, many physical issues could easily present as mental or spiritual difficulties. For instance, if you start experiencing symptoms that look like depression or anxiety such as low energy, changes in appetite, sleep, brain fog, palpitations, excessive worry, etc., this doesn’t necessarily mean you have a mental health disorder; A lack of minerals or vitamin deficiencies such as vitamin B12 and vitamin D can also manifest as depression.
In my case, I discovered that the root cause was a never diagnosed intolerance to gluten which in turn contributed to long-term nutrient mal-absorption.
finally, I would like to motivate you to intentionally work at nurturing every part of you daily. I know this process can be different for everyone. Here are some ways that are helpful:
-Spending quality time talking and listening to God
-Maintaining close loving relationships
-Managing your self-talk
-Optimizing proper nutrition
-Incorporating physical activity
-Practicing relaxation/breathing techniques to manage stress
-Engaging in Joyful activities
-Laughing often
-Learning something new everyday.
😊